THE DEPARTMENT OF Education has confirmed that just 18 out of more than 12,000 marks appealed under the Calculated Grades process have been changed.

The new results were given to students at 12pm today, after the Calculated Grades Executive Office reviewed 33,301 individual subject records belonging to 12,216 students.

The number excludes students who initially sough an appeal of their grade but later withdrew their application.

The 18 increased grades were awarded to 18 individual students. 11 were upgrades following an appeal by the student, while seven more were upgraded following quality assurance checks as part of the appeals process.

The department emphasised that the appeals process was “not connected with the discovery of errors in the Leaving Certificate Calculated Grades process”.

In a statement, the department said that the low number of grade changes “reflects the professionalism with which schools approached the in-school phase” of the Calculated Grades system.

The appeals process focused on potential errors in the transmission and processing of data, including, for example, whether any mistake was made in entering a student’s information into any of the systems used as part of the process.

The process did not allow students to appeal the estimated percentage mark or rank order provided by the school.

Students whose grades have been upgraded will be contacted directly by the Calculated Grades office this afternoon, and an updated file has been provided to the CAO today.

Candidates who are eligible for a new third-level offer as a result of their upgraded mark will also be contacted as soon as possible.

Students unhappy with the outcome of the above process can invoke a separate process to have their appeal reviewed by independent Appeals Scrutineers.

Over 6,000 Leaving Certificate students received improved grades following a review of the system, which was carried out after errors were discovered in their original grades

Earlier this week, Minister for Education Norma Foley revealed that the Government will establish a non-statutory independent review of the Calculated Grades process

Foley outlined that the review will consider key aspects of the process, including the initial decision to adopt a Calculated Grades model, whether the process met objectives, how effective the process was and whether oversight of it was effective.